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Jet Pack
Jet Pack: AKA jetpack, rocket belt, rocketpack, etc. Various back-mounted flying machines that use jet propulsion or leaking gases to move the wearer up and forward. The science fiction comic strip hero Buck Rogers (1920s) pioneered this device in future travel and exploration. Like a parachute the backpack harness includes a crotch strap, to protect the aviator from falls. Bmup2p11.jpg|Pundit tries jetpack. The names with "jet," "rocket", etc. are used interchangeably but technically, a jetpack has a jet engine, while a rocketpack has a rocket engine. Jet engines are usually turbojets with kerosene fuel. They were last flown in experiments in the 1960s. They flew higher and longer than rocketpacks but cost too much and were too hard for amateurs to make. The Bell Jet Flying Belt was tested by the military in 1965-69 but found unsafe for the pilot due to heavy weight on user's arms and risk of puncture and incision wounds from flying turbine blades if the engine was damaged. It included a radio for ground control communication and two parachutes for emergencies. Hydrogen peroxide powered rockets convert hydrogen peroxide fuel into 740 degrees C. steam/oxygen mix. They are popular because they are simple enough for an engineering student and artisan to build in a workshop. However, the fuel is rare and costly and the engine only allows 30-second public flights at sports events, such as the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, US. Germany first tested hydrogen peroxide rocketpacks during World War II, called Himmel Sturmer" (Sky Stormer), which allowed 120 ft. flights under 50 ft. for crossing minefields, barbed wire, etc., though not for enlisted soldiers, despite its depiction in The Rocketeer. In the postwar era, Germany gave the prototype to Bell Aerosystems, who tested it on a safety tether to please cautious aviators. Bell, Thiokol Corporation and others experimented on both jet and rocket models during the 1950s and 1960s. The U.S. Army showed interest for the above reasons since 1959. During the1980s, NASA used a rocketpack called a Manned Maneuvering Unit (MNU), the only practical jetpack to allow astronauts to fly untethered in outer space on 3 Space Shuttle flights in 1984. It currently introduced a smaller, simpler version called the SAFER. In Oct. 25, 2005, Visa Parviainen flew laterally for 30 seconds with a wingsuit and two levitation boots (kerosene-fueled turbojets) on his feet. Fiction Use: * Sean Connery wore a simulated one, while his stunt doubles Bill Sutton (who later flew in the 1984 Olympics) and Gordon Yeager of Bell Co. flew a real" Bell Rocket Belt" in the James Bond film Thunderball (1965). * Buck Rogers flew one in his 1920s comic strip. * Star Wars characters Boba and Jango Fett and others. * Commando Cody of Radar Men From the Moon and the 1949 serials. * King of the Rocketmen 1949 serials...(Wikipedia 2006; Downey 1975). In Brother Muscle: Supervillain Pundit flew one in Roberto Aguilera's apartment, while trying to escape with his fallen assassination attempt accomplice, Puissance after defeat by the superheroes Ultraperson and Brother Muscle, who rescued Aguilera and his boyfriend Francisco from them. (Lathan, 2013). References: * Downey, Douglas M., New Standard Encyclopedia (1975) * Lathan, D.V., Brother Muscle & Ultraperson #1-2 (1993; rev. 1999; publ. 2013) * Wikipedia, "Jet Pack" (2006) Category:Paranormal